The Role of Perceived Organizational Support in Enhancing Work Engagement among Millennial Healthcare Employees

Abstract

This study examines the effects of effective human resource practices, work-life balance, psychological empowerment, and transformational leadership on work engagement, while investigating the mediating role of perceived organizational support among millennial employees working in supporting and administrative units of one Regional General Hospital in Tegal Regency, Indonesia. Data were collected from 113 employees and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Squares (SEMPLS), with hypothesis testing performed through bootstrapping using a two-tailed significance test at the 5% significance level. The findings reveal that (1) work engagement is significantly shaped by work-life balance and psychological empowerment, while effective human resource practices and transformational leadership do not show significant direct effects; (2) work-life balance, psychological empowerment, and transformational leadership significantly enhance perceived organizational support, whereas effective human resource practices do not significantly influence perceived organizational support; (3) perceived organizational support significantly promotes work engagement and partially mediates the relationship between work-life balance and work engagement; and (4) the non-significant effects of effective human resource practices and transformational leadership challenge assumptions in the work engagement literature, suggesting that organizational support and psychological resources may represent stronger drivers of engagement in public healthcare settings. These findings extend the literature by providing evidence from an Indonesian public hospital context and highlighting perceived organizational support as a key mechanism linking supportive work environments to work engagement.